It's Just About That Time Again
Billy Ricci is back -- he shares his thoughts on the Friars with the season just two weeks away
Friar Family,
It’s about that time. I never like to wish away a summer in Newport or Narragansett, but this year it was hard not to count down the days until Friar Basketball season. We’re almost there.
Obviously, this has been a longer offseason than we have been accustomed to in recent years, but if I could compare the feeling going into this 2023-24 season I would have to compare it to a middle school dance.
It’s that nervous, excited, unfamiliar feeling that presents a little anxiety and not knowing where to set your expectations. For the first time in over a decade, we are going to witness a different style of Friar Basketball. We can all say what we want about Ed Cooley leaving, but I don’t know if we can take away how consistent of a product we got from him and his staff over the years. Although towards the end of his tenure as PC head coach it felt like we were watching reruns of the episodes we had clearly seen once or twice before. A loss maybe we shouldn’t have had in the non-conference, a non-conference blow out game against a big-branded ACC or SEC school, then a consistent stretch of Big East wins that put us in position to make the tournament as a 7-10 seed. Consistency can in itself can be boring, and as I have said before on the podcast, I am looking forward to this new brand of uptempo “1 in 4 out” pro style offense Kim English and his staff are bringing to the AMP this year.
So why am I looking at the start of this season similar to how I looked at asking a girl to dance when I was in middle school? Simple, the Big East is going to be really, really good. For one of the first times maybe since realignment, we aren’t facing just Nova and Creighton at the top where we can slide into our usual potential 4 seed in the conference tournament. Marquette has now clearly stabilized under Shaka Smart, the same way, in my opinion, Xavier is much more of a consistent threat as well. Whether we finish ahead of X or not this year (the Zach Fremantle and Jerome Hunter injuries won’t help their cause) Sean Miller is just one of those coaches you don’t want to go against multiple times a year.
Same goes for Slick Rick and the Johnnies, who is admittedly getting the attention around the transformation he has made at St. John’s in what has felt like just a couple month span — here’s to hoping it's more hype than what it will actually produce on the court during Big East play. And then there’s Creighton and Nova, just those Big East blue and white brands that aren’t going anywhere from the top half of the Big East table anytime soon. Oh and uh…UConn won a national championship last year…
So, realistically speaking, we have Marquette, Creighton and UConn rightfully projected in the top 25, and then next up what I would call the “upside but unproven” class of Nova, St. John’s and our Providence Friars. Providence could be a 4 or 5 seed-type team, but again, there is something about this year that just seems like it’s going to be that much tougher. It has nothing to do with the amazing work I believe English and his staff have done assembling the roster going into this season.
I’m here to tell you though, that the hope for another great Friar season lies in the guys opposite Bryce Hopkins. Maybe some other experts out there don’t see the immense value George Mason transfers Josh Oduro and Ticket Gaines provide this Friar squad, but I know I do. With Ticket in the lineup, alongside Devin Carter, Garwey Dual, and Corey Floyd Jr., this may be the best, longest and toughest group of defensive guards we have seen suit up in a while. We also can’t discount the fact that both Floyd Jr. and Carter are coming in hungry this year. Floyd Jr. to prove he is ready for a bigger role, and Carter with hopes of proving that he is one of the best two-way guards in the country.
What most college basketball publications are pointing out that could potentially create some challenges for these Friars is the lack of Big East level experience at the point guard position. I see the point, but I actually genuinely disagree with the impact those in the media are portraying. As Kevin and I discussed on the Season Preview podcast, this is the first time in a long time PC will not be sending out an upperclassmen level point guard since the David Duke Jr./Makai Ashton-Langford-led team of five years ago. But to me, it’s easy to point out why this year and this situation is vastly different, and that answer is Garwey Dual.
If you’re not intrigued by Dual’s size, basketball IQ, length and athleticism, then maybe following another sport might be better for you. There was no need to bring in a graduate transfer type point guard with Dual waiting in the wings, and a clear starter in Jayden Pierre returning. I see Dual only getting better into Big East play, rising up to the challenge and being our not-so-secret spark that drives coaches up a wall trying to figure out how to stop him. To the publications who currently have him as a potential lottery pick, it’s time to prove them right — and if that’s the case… forget everything I said about the worry of finishing less than 4th in the Big East. To me, Josh Oduro and Ticket Gaines are the glue that can hold this team together against anybody, but Dual is the X-factor freshman Friartown has been looking for since Kris Dunn.
Looking forward to seeing you all at the AMP this year!